Nelson Mandela in Bad Condition

Nelson Mandela had been previously admitted to Pretoria hospital located in the capital of South Africa. The former president was admitted for lung related complications and his condition deteriorated as his time spent there was extended. Doctors fear that Mandela is in a bad condition and is doing whatever it takes to help him improve.

Mandela had been admitted to the facility four times before since the month of December for similar treatment of his condition. Presiding President Jacob Zuma was optimistic that his predecessor’s health would improve.

President Jacob Zuma and ANC Deputy President, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, visited the former President and was briefed by doctors. They were told that the former president’s health had worsened to a critical state within the past 24 hours.

Mandela contracted tuberculosis while imprisoned for 27 years under South Africa’s former white minority regime. His lungs severely damaged have since led to numerous procedures to rectify the former president’s condition.

Al Jazeera’s Tania Page confirmed Nelson Mandela was in bad condition, reporting from Johannesburg she said, “People are getting used to the idea that one day, perhaps soon, he will not be with them. It won’t be a surprise that his condition has deteriorated … But [his death] will none-the-less still come as a shock to South Africans.”

Mandela a member of the Thembu royal family, Led the ANC in the late 1940’s up to the mid 1950’s in defiance of apartheid legal practices during the time. Mandela was repeatedly jailed for subversive activities against the state and finally imprisoned for life for instigating guerrilla war fare against the government in 1964.

Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 and participated in peacemaking efforts to transition the faltering apartheid government of South Africa to a more democratic system becoming the country’s first black president in 1994.

“We have seen the latest reports from the South African Government that former President Mandela is in critical condition. Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and the people of South Africa,” said Caitlin Hayden, the US National Security Council spokesperson at the White House.

Mandela had become frail in his last days before becoming critically ill and had made a last public appearance at the 2010 World Soccer Cup Tournament that took place in South Africa. Nelson Mandela condition was rated as bad by the attending medical team and every consideration is being extended to comfort the ailing former president.